Thirty Years – 1922-1952
The Story of the Communist Movement in Canada

CHAPTER TEN: A People's National Program

THE EIGHTH national convention of the Communist Party
of Canada was held October 8-13, 1937, in the Masonic Temple,
Toronto. The convention celebrated the centennial of the
struggle for Canadian independence; paying a solemn tribute
to the rebels of 1837 and dedicating the Communist Party to
continue the historical struggle. Declaring proudly "We are
the heirs of '37," the convention emphasized also the tremendous
changes that had taken place during the 100 years that
had passed:

"The Canada that Mackenzie and Papineau sought to free was
scarcely more than a group of isolated semi-feudal colonies, lacking
effective contact with each other and communication with the world
at large. Canada, today, is a highly industrialized country with a
standard of technical development equal to any in the world."(1)

That was a bare statement of fact, then becoming evident to
millions of Canadians. The constitutional provisions of the
British North America Act, enacted in 1867, were in glaring
conflict with the highly concentrated monopoly-capitalist economy
of Canada in 1937. In illuminating contrast to the lack of
effective communication with each other and the world at
large that had characterized the colonies in 1837, finance
capitalism had by 1937 concentrated control of the nation's
production and commerce in the hands of a tightly knit
oligarchy and had involved Canada deeply in the imperialist
struggle for redivision of the capitalist world market. The
convention opened with a ceremonial session at the Mutual
Street Arena, in which more than 4,000 workers participated
in an inspiring tribute to the 1,280 young Canadians who were
in Spain in the ranks of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
fighting against fascism.

History had moved through a full cycle since 1837. The
cycle was illustrated by the contrast between the contents and
proposals of the convention report and the history of the
revolutionary struggle of 1837 which was published as part
of the Party's celebration of the centenary. A paragraph in
that book illustrated the contrast between class relationships
as they were in Canada in 1837 and the class relationships
prevailing at the time of the eighth national convention.

"Responsible government, the main demand of the Canadian reform
movement, was primarily a means to an end: the breaking of colonial
and feudal fetters to allow the economic expansion of an industrial
Canada. In this, the aims of the manufacturing class coincided with
the general interests of the mass of the people; the industrial
bourgeoisie played the role of a revolutionary-democratic force."(2)

The handful of individual land-grabbing office-holders who
constituted the "Family Compact" of 1837 had been replaced
by a highly organized finance-capitalist oligarchy. Through the
systematic interlocking of boards of directors, that oligarchy
controlled the vast and intricate machinery of finance, production,
transportation, communication and, through its chosen
political representatives, the state. Even the ambitions which
motivated the modern oligarchy in gradually asserting their
freedom from British domination was not an ambition for the
independent, industrial development of Canada. It was so
that they could sell Canada to United States imperialism. In
1937 monopoly-capitalism already was becoming less interested
in the all-round development of Canadian economy and
increasingly interested in the quick profits to be made by
selling Canada's irreplacable natural resources and territorial
independence to the United States.

The eighth national convention drew the attention of all
Canada to that profound contradiction between the interests
of the overwhelming majority of the people, the real nation,
and the so-called "national aims" of monopoly-capitalism. The
convention called upon the workers and farmers of Canada
to recognize that the real interests of the nation are the interests
of the masses of its people. The thesis around which all its
resolutions were built was that Canadians were confronted by
the necessity for decision-the real interests of the nation could
be served only by the political defeat of the monopolists and
the replacement of profits and war by people's welfare in peace,
as the sole objective of national policy. It pointed out:

"The people seek progress, the big financial interests seek to turn
the wheel of industry back. The people are democratic, the big financial
interests are afraid of democracy. The people want peace, the
policies of finance-capital are leading Canada in company with the
reactionary powers of Europe towards an imperialist war against
democracy and progress. Every man and woman in Canada must
take a stand upon these issues."(3)

The situation was a challenge to true Canadians. After seven
years of crisis and depression profits were up again above the
peak of 1929 while wages remained very close to the lowest
levels to which they had been slashed during the crisis. The
burden of debt and taxation upon farmers and urban middle-class
people bad increased tremendously, their incomes remained
at depression levels. Preparations for war had become the
keynote of imperialist policy. Reaction was on the offensive.
Big financial interests and leading politicians of the two old
parties were exploring the possibilities for a coalition of all
reactionary parties under the high-sounding title of "The
United Canada Association." Fascist organizations, typified by
Adrien Arcand's organization in Quebec, were being generously
financed by big business in various parts of the country.
Men who were recognized as enemies of the people, such as
Meighen the father of Section 98, Sir Edward Beatty the advocate
of railroad amalgamation, Sir Herbert Holt whose financial
operations had led to the ruin of thousands of small-business
people, Colonel George Drew the pro-fascist admirer of the
Mussolini and Hitler regimes, were advocating a "national
government." Later the owner of the Toronto Globe and Mail
sought to establish an over-all general staff for capitalist reaction
under the title of "The Leadership League."

The drive of reaction was motivated by fear of the rising
militancy of the workers and farmers as well as by the general
turn of imperialism towards policies of fascist reaction and
war. The need of the people, the development which could
guarantee democratic progress, was "Unity in Action." The
convention emphasized in its call to the workers and farmers:
". . . Life itself is opening up splendid possibilities ... united
action does not necessarily require unity in one organization;
it involves only cooperation to secure certain specific objectives."
As part of the party's contribution towards a programmatic
basis for such unity, the convention called upon all democratic
Canadians to elaborate through joint discussions a
people's program built around the following six main heads.(4)

a) Legislate for Social Security"The people of Canada want progressive legislation. Canada at the
present time has the least progressive social legislation of any except
four of the twenty-five countries of the Americas. It is a shameful
thing that there still remain three provinces, including wealthy Quebec,
which have no Widowed Mothers' Allowance and that, in those provinces
which have such legislation, a widow with two children should
have to live on less than the inadequate minimum wage prescribed for
a single girl. We need unemployment and health insurance legislation
which will guarantee, to all victims of sickness or involuntary unemployment
adequate maintenance for themselves and their families. Old
age pensions at sixty, prohibition of juvenile labor, minimum wages
for young male workers, limitation of hours of labor, are all essential
for the protection of the Canadian working people. A central need
today is trade union legislation which will guarantee to working people
the right to join the union of their own choice and the right to
bargain collectively through their own freely chosen representatives."

b) Save Canadian Agriculture"...Canada needs a comprehensive national farm policy. Farmers
must be protected against the conditions created by the fact that they
sell their products in a market controlled by the buyers and are compelled
to buy everything they need in a market controlled by the
sellers..."

c) A Democratic Fiscal Policy"The fiscal policy of the Dominion and the provinces needs a
complete revamping ... the tax structure needs to be drastically
reorganized. ... The nation's currency and credit should be under the
control of a nationalized banking system."

d) Give Our Youth a Chance"The National Youth Commission established by the King government
marks the beginning of governmental recognition of the fact
that the problems of the youth of Canada have become a matter of
national concern. ... The beginning made is totally inadequate but
it shows that the Youth Bill and other proposals advanced by the
Youth Congress are practical and should be given effect."

e) A Democratic Constitution for Canada"... The Communist Party proposes that the labor and progressive
movement of Canada should cooperate through legislative conferences
in the formulation of proposals towards the working out of a democratic
constitution for our country and join forces in the effort to
secure its adoption. Provincial rights must be fully protected. The
constitution of Canada must guarantee complete provincial autonomy
and control in all matters concerning civil liberties, education, cultural
and religious rights and in all matters concerning the organization
and coordination of municipal and provincial governments. ...
Appeals to the Privy Council must be abolished. Canada's parliament
must be competent to decide."

f) A Foreign Policy That Makes for Peace"... We object to Canada being gradually and insidiously involved
in the diplomatic entanglements which are the 'spiders' webs' of the
schemers who are working out the plans for a new balance of power
and imperialist war in Europe. ... Never before has there been such
a widespread and general desire among the people for peace. ...
But it is not enough to merely condemn war, we must influence government
policy upon issues which are concrete and urgent today. This
requires mighty mass movements in support of peace. ... As Mr. Peter
Bryce, Moderator of the United Church, has said: 'The mighty power
of sentiment against all that is involved in modern warfare may yet
save the world from disaster if it is expressed, individually and collectively
by the people of the world, and if it is crystallized into action
by governments, compelled to do so through the sheer force of the
weight of public. opinion.'...

"... We must organize tens of thousands of people in all the constituencies
of Canada to bring pressure to bear upon their members
of parliament, to demand of them that they place themselves on public
record against war. Every candidate for public office should be asked
for a similar pledge. Peace-loving people must be aroused to the fact
that the issue of peace or war is being decided now. Continued retreat
before the fascist offensive means war. If we want peace we must defend it."

In addition to the draft program of which these quoted
sections are typical, the convention adopted resolutions setting
forth specific demands for the youth, for the women, for the
farmers, for the native Indians, for French Canada; for a foreign
policy based upon Canada's interests, etc. The following excerpts
are typical.

"Being deeply concerned with the welfare of Canada's youth, the
party must focus its attention on their outstanding needs and generate
mass movements for their immediate realization, making the struggle
for the needs of the youth an integral part of all economic and political
struggles of the working class. Our party must offer practical programs
for legislation on behalf of the social and economic needs of youth
and champion their enactment. ... Such legislation should include:
minimum wage laws and stipulations for their enforcement; establishment
and extension of vocational and technical training; introduction
of a system of apprenticeship under trade union supervision; adequate
scholarships for needy students; grants to farm youth; creation of
recreational youth centres, etc."(5)

"This eighth convention of our party places before our whole
membership and all party bodies the immediate task of carrying on an
intensive educational campaign within the party and the labor movement
for the correct appraisal of work amongst women. Our leading
party bodies still seriously underestimate this vital work and consider
it in the main to be the work of women themselves rather than the
work of the whole party. Our party has not yet fully grasped that the
organization of women requires particular attention to their special
problems and needs; hence special forms of organization for which
capable trained leadership must be provided. Opinions are still
encountered in our party minimizing the importance of organization of
women, opposing special efforts in this regard, critical of special
women's organizations, disdainful of the contribution which women
can make to the labor movement. Such views have hindered the
recruiting of women into the party and have led to a tendency on the
part of many women comrades to be unwilling to devote themselves
to organization of women, since this is falsely regarded as less
important than other fields of party work."(6)

Limitations of space prevent reproduction of the entire text
of the programmatic proposals put forward by the eighth
national convention, as they do of numerous other important
documents. The key passages quoted above do illustrate, however,
the fundamental fact emphasized by that convention, that
the workers are now the only class whose interests as a class are
completely identical with the true interests of the nation.

Comparison of the draft People's Program adopted by the
eighth convention with subsequent developments shows that,
while only a few of the reforms advocated there have been
achieved, the formulation of specific and well-defined immediate,
political objectives is, in itself, a vital contribution to
the popular struggle for democracy and progress. Most of the
legislation advocated in that draft is now recognized as necessary
by the majority of Canadians.